Oh Alabama
The devil fools
with the best laid plan.
Swing low Alabama
You got spare change
You got to feel strange
And now the moment
is all that it meant.

Alabama, you got
the weight on your shoulders
That's breaking your back.
Your Cadillac
has got a wheel in the ditch
And a wheel on the track

Oh Alabama
Banjos playing
through the broken glass
Windows down in Alabama.
See the old folks
tied in white robes
Hear the banjo.
Don't it take you down home?

Alabama, you got
the weight on your shoulders
That's breaking your back.
Your Cadillac
has got a wheel in the ditch
And a wheel on the track

Oh Alabama.
Can I see you
and shake your hand.
Make friends down in Alabama.
I'm from a new land
I come to you
and see all this ruin
What are you doing Alabama?
You got the rest of the union
to help you along
What's going wrong?



Lyrics submitted by H-bomb

Track duration: 04:02


Alabama song meanings
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13 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:Tell us how you really feel, Neil.
    Flag Thunderbolton March 22, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Alabama

    It seems this song is about the low station earth is on that we came down to here - in comparison to the center of the Cosmos ('Heaven' etc.). We're on a side octave back house where only crumbs of Goodness and God get to us through the strains (broken windows/seives. As some are aware of, lucipher means the ciphening of the light/lucia...so little light gets to us in this shit hole). It's a similar theme to Morrison's Maggie M'gill ('going down to tangent town...mom met dad in the back of a rock n roll car...oh I'm an old Blues man, I've been singin the Blues ever since the world began') and Nirvana's 'Breed' which I like to call 'the descent of the species.'


    ohh, ohh Ala bam
    [God/Allah's big bang...maybe he doesn't pronounce the ending 'a' on purpose...]
    the devil fools with the best laid plan
    swing low alabama
    you got the spare change/stair chain
    [a second voice comes in saying 'spare chain' which may be the side octave spoken of in the 4th way by those 'folks from fountainbleau' Neil says he would love to join...the side octave/spare chain is supposed to reveal all kinds of things about where our earth is and what we are supposed to complete.]
    you got to feel strange/strained
    [this may be a reference to the premature moon created out from the earth from a comet creating an unnatural strain on us and human's ability to evolve right like having a child too early: 'everything under the sun is in tune but the sun is eclipsed by the moon' here.]
    and now the moment is all that you've been

    Alabama: you've got the weight on your shoulders that's breaking your back
    your cadillac has got a wheel in the ditch and a wheel on the track
    [below us, according to Fountainbleau Folk, is the absolute base firm where all distentigrates to that doesn't evolve: the ditch. The early Christians called it 'Gehenna' which was a ditch where you burn all your waste. our planet is in between this and the higher heavens so we have a wheel in the ditch and a wheel on the track.]

    ohh, ohh alabama
    banjoe's playing through the broken glass
    windows out in alabama
    see the old folks, tied in white robes
    hear the band joe, don't it take you down home...
    [things are dying and dead here and little influence gets through the windows from the band]

    Alabama, you've got the weight on your shoulders that's breaking your back
    your cadillac has got a wheel in the ditch and a wheel on the track

    [now Higher Influence comes in singing to us:]
    ohh, ohh alabama
    can I seive you and shake your hand
    make friends down in alabama
    I'm from a new land, I come to hu/you man
    see all this ruin..what are you doin?
    Alabama
    you've got the rest of the Union to help you along
    what's going wrong?



    ....oh it makes me sad
    Flag Commagene12on July 18, 2010   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I think that the line :
    "Your Cadillac
    has got a wheel in the ditch
    and a wheel on the track"

    implies that the state of Alabama (the "Cadillac") is finely balanced between taking the good path to redemption or regressing back into the bad.
    Flag chrisb1on April 04, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:He's correct. NY and Ronnie Van Zant became good friends. When, just before a concert, NY heard about the tragic plane crash he played "Sweet Home Alabama" as a tribute.
    If you look carefully at some Lynyrd Skynyrd concert footage (eg. on "Freebird The Movie") you will see that Ronnie is actually wearing a NY "Tonights The Night" t-shirt.
    Flag chrisb1on November 11, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Ronnie van zandt was buried in his Tonights the night t-shirt...neil was a pall bearer at his funeral...neil wrote powderfinger for skynyrd but they didnt do it.

    there was no feud.
    Flag youknowimrighton August 23, 2007   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:this is about well like the title says it Alabama.
    As you know if your a real fan of Neil like me
    he is totally against racism.

    See the old folks
    tied in white ropes
    - im pretty sure these lines are about the kkk

    Your Cadillac
    has got a wheel in the ditch
    And a wheel on the track
    - these lines talks about how the white people were rich because of the black slaves
    Flag expectingtoflyon April 29, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:the way he says "oh alabama" with that bass drum in the background breaks my heart
    Flag paramaniaon October 22, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Alabama is the first song I ever heard on Harvest. That made me buy the album without hearing any other song on it. Alabama remains my favorite Neil Young song. The hard beat and the earthy sounds of the guitar makes it an unforgetable tune. Listen to the instrumental part after "Don't it take you down home?" The drums, piano,bass and guitars are perfectly blended. Neil Young rules!!!!!!
    Flag appleharveyon August 16, 2005   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:This is one of my favorite songs on Harvest........as for the feud between neil young and lynyrd skynrd....ive heard that it didnt really exist but then ive heard that one of the skynrd guys was buried with a neil young t-shirt
    Flag dasquien!on April 30, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:thats true! Sweet home alabama was an answer song to both of these. Check the sweet home alabama forum on this site, band name "Lynyrd Skynyrd" in which I give a brilliant account of the song, if I do say so myself!
    Flag Leanahton July 25, 2002   Link

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